Tates Solicitors

Tates Solicitors is a regional niche law practice.

It has developed from a traditional criminal practice into a specialist business crime practice having been established in the mid-80s by William Tate. He had the innovative idea, unique in the city of Leeds at the time, to set up a solicitors’ practice focusing exclusively on criminal law and road traffic investigations and prosecutions.

His philosophy was to provide a highly specialist and professional service to clients facing all types of criminal allegations. After William left the practice has evolved to deal with more prestigious and more lucrative cases, but the philosophy of providing specialist professional service to clients still holds true.

Today, Tates Solicitors is specialist in business and regulatory crime. This is now the core work of the practice, and although it still handles regular criminal cases, this film looks particularly at the success it has enjoyed in the last few years in the field of business and regulatory crime.

Tates Solicitors is a practice that has benefited from the recession. Today, businesses face stiffer regulation than ever before. In times of recession, people cut corners, whether that’s tax evasion, fraud, money laundering, or risking health and safety. Defence solicitors are getting busier and busier.

But solicitors’ practices still need to be in a position to take advantage - and Tates has. In 1999 the government passed a bill that stated that expensive publicly funded cases (such as managing directors falsifying production figures, or football club directors taking backhanders from transfer fees) could only be undertaken by suitably qualified solicitors’ practices - in other words, only those practices that were members of the Specialist Fraud Panel of the Complex Crime Unit, under the auspices of the Governments Quango, the Legal Service Commission.

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Tates is one of only a handful of firms in Yorkshire that was able to secure membership of this panel, guaranteeing a certain amount of work. And since some of these cases last for a number of years, it means it can be extremely lucrative work. Tates’ reputation has grown as a result and is now recommended for work by other solicitors and counsel.

The Specialist Fraud Panel has now become difficult to gain entry to, not least because of the skills and experience required. Tates anticipated this would be an area in which they could expand their business.

The government has demonstrated a zealous approach to combating fraud in the business arena. It is always passing new Criminal Justice Bills. The Proceeds of Crime Act means people who have benefited from fraud will spend more time in prison if they don’t repay their ill-gotten gains.

European legislation has standardised the legal response to business and regulatory crime. And we now live with a compensation culture. Tates started taking on business and regulatory crime cases in 1999. In just a decade business and regulatory crime work has gone from contributing 5per cent of its turnover to over 25per cent - and that figure is growing all the time.

But despite this, Tates has resisted the temptation to expand and diversify. It is still a relatively small solicitors’ practice and only takes on new solicitors every now and then, believing in organic growth and developing key staff. Tates believes in the personal touch.

Many large solicitors’ practices will appoint a whole team to a client. Tates believe that by appointing only one solicitor to head a case, who will stay with the client throughout the length of the case to trial, it is offering to the client a better service.

Tates’ solicitors have first contact with the client, very often in the police station. They will then stay with a client through the lower, magistrate’s court, and then up to the Crown or High Court. Tates build a strong relationship with a client.

Tates is a company that has found a significant place in the market. It has found a lucrative revenue stream and is gradually moving away from general criminal work.

It has discovered that the personal touch professionally delivered keeps it in a unique position within a niche area of the legal profession.